


Detention for Remus Lupin

by Carnivalgirl24



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Pranks and Practical Jokes, Young Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-05-01 17:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19182433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carnivalgirl24/pseuds/Carnivalgirl24
Summary: Lyall and Hope's son Remus may be a werewolf, but he has always, always, always been a good boy.Silly, fluffy story of Remus's first detention.





	Detention for Remus Lupin

Parenting a child with lycanthropy was challenging, and one of the hardest things for Lyall and Hope Lupin was that their son knew it. The very morning after the first night he transformed, they could see in his eyes that there were a hundred things that his five-year-old judgement deemed he ought to spare them from. Eventually after a lot of coaxing he simply said, hands over his head in exhaustion, 'I was a really evil monster.'

They promised, as they had done before and would do again as often as Remus ever wanted, that they understood he was not a really evil monster, that he was a good boy who they loved more than anything in the world. And so in return, Remus, who wanted nothing more in life than to be loved by them, was always, always,  _always_  a good boy.

One night, when Remus was six, Hope went for a well-earned night out with her sister, and Lyall was left at home to cook. He'd made dumplings as his mother had always made them - boiled, with plenty of onion. Remus, at the table, had pulled a face.

'They're not like Mammy's dumplings.'

'No,' Lyall had said. 'Because Mammy's not here, so we're trying something different.' They were not like his mammy's either - they were wrinkly and pale, like skin released from damp boots, and bits of onion were floating off them into the watery broth. But he wasn't going to admit that.

'I want  _Mammy's_  dumplings,' Remus had said.

'I told you,' Lyall had said firmly. 'Mammy's not here. You'll eat what's in front of you.'

Lyall had braced himself for tears, a fork smashed against a table, at least one more plea for Mammy. But instead Remus had fallen silent, nestled his arms on the table, and dug in his spoon.

Another time, when Remus was nine, Hope was browsing a department store in search of a new umbrella and let him wander off to look at toys. He was a more isolated child than most, and so even though they lived almost entirely within the magical community, Hope aspired to introduce him to as much Muggle entertainment as she and Lyall could afford. He had returned with a model car clutched in his hands.

'Please may I have this car,' he had said. 'It's the one from The Man From UNCLE. It fires missiles!'

'You can put it on your wish list for Christmas,' Hope had said.

'But Mam! There was another boy and his mam got him a car!'

'I said not until Christmas, and that's final.' Hope had turned her back on him, anticipating - almost hopefully - a petulant whine, a stamped foot, accusations that she was cruel, heartless, the worst mother ever.

'That's final, Remus,' she had repeated. No response came. When she turned around, he had gone, to put the car back on the shelf.

Lyall and Hope had prepared, as well as they could anyway, for years more of this: exhausting nights around the table until every last Knut and penny was accounted for, increasing paranoid fear of stares and gossip until talking to anyone became unbearable, tighter and tighter protections applied to the door for Remus's transformations until it felt like trying to contain a tsunami, and in the centre of it all, Remus disappearing further and further into himself.

Then, in the space of a couple of hours, it had all changed. Now Remus was out in the world, learning alongside other children. Lyall and Hope were no longer afraid to make conversation with their neighbours and colleagues, because their son was safe from curiosity. They had both applied to work full-time for the first time in years, so there would be money. And the house, a ramshackle country house built like a pile of boxes that they'd chosen in a rush to get away from their last place, was now becoming their home. It had seemed impossible. It still did.

One evening, after Remus had been at Hogwarts for nearly a month, including one successful full moon, a Great Grey owl arrived at the Lupins' kitchen window. It was well-groomed, with nary a feather out of place, and accepted a treat from Lyall in the manner of a teacher accepting homework. The small amber eyes glowering from under huge black eyelids seemed to say _I hope you're not about to disappoint me_. In its talons was a thick parcel, likely one of the books Lyall had ordered for work, and a small, thin letter. Lyall took the letter, and on turning it over, saw that the envelope was sealed with a Hogwarts crest.

Hope started at the sight and pressed a hand to her chest. Her eyes lowered; she seemed not to know where to look.

'Read it, love, please,' she said.

'It might just be that he's done well in a test, he is a very bright boy,' Lyalll assured her, though his thin shoulders sagged with the sense of helplessness that had become a motif of their family life. He broke the seal with his thumb, removed the letter, and read aloud.

'" _Dear Mr and Mrs Lupin, this letter is to notify you that your child, Remus John Lupin, received a detention on the 27th September 1971, for misconduct in the classroom._ "'

'No!' Hope cried. 'Remus is a good boy, he would never!'

Lyall pulled out a chair for her to sit down, and then joined her himself. He read on, his eyebrows shooting up into his thick hair. '" _Below is an account of your child's misconduct from Professor Cuthbert Binns, History of Magic teacher_." Blimey, he's still there? I'd have thought he'd have died of old age by now.'

'Lyall,' Hope said, frustrated.

'Sorry, dear. " _During their Monday morning History of Magic class, the four first-year Gryffindor boys (Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew) conspired to convince the first-year Hufflepuffs and the first-year Gryffindor girls that they had been forced to spend the weekend working in a coal mine._ "'

'So, the other boys put him up to it,' Hope said. 'We should ask for him to be moved to…what was it? The house for more academic children. I think he would be better off there.'

Lyall looked up at her like he was about to argue with that, but thought better of it a second later, and read on.

'" _They arrived late, with their faces and uniforms covered in coal dust. I deducted points from Gryffindor, but as the lesson covered essential exam material I could not send them back to Gryffindor Tower to change_."'

'Coal dust?' Hope said. 'They have fires there?'

'Oh, yes, dear, that part would've been easy. " _Throughout the lesson, though I expressly forbid talking, I am informed they whispered comments to each other about the pits within earshot of other students, implying they had spent the entire weekend digging._ "'

'Hmm.'

'" _Pettigrew, probably acting on instruction from Black or Potter, made a show of dropping a piece of parchment which claimed to be a timetable of the first-year students' weekend mining shifts. The Hogwarts crest had been carefully (though obviously to a teacher's eye) forged. This was passed around the class in a great panic._ "'

'I knew it,' Hope said, wringing her hands. 'Black and Potter have roped Remus and Pettigrew into mischief. We will have to talk to Dumbledore.'

Lyall took a deep breath. He seemed to be struggling to read on.

'" _When class was over, the four boys began to…"_ ' He shot an uneasy glance at his wife and cleared his throat. ' _"...to sing a ridiculous song of their invention, called Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it's home from work we go."_ '

Hope let out a soft moan and pressed her hands to her eyes. Lyall watched, not sure quite what to say.

'That was Remus. I taught him that song,' she said. 'Oh, God.'

'" _It was only when Naylor, a Hufflepuff first year, asked Professor McGonagall in the next period to be excused from mining due to asthma, that the panic made itself known to us. The four boys were immediately identified as the culprits, and were issued with a detention which they served that afternoon after their final lessons - not mining, but assisting our Groundskeeper with harvesting pumpkins. Please find enclosed the Hogwarts School Rules, which explain the standards of conduct expected and the sanctions which may be issued if these standards are breached."_ '

Hope tilted her head, looking for the underside of the letter. Lyall glanced towards the large book-shaped parcel. 'That'll be it.'

Lyall and Hope took turns with the letter and the school rules, one reading, the other fretting and making tea they could hardly bear to drink, over and over until the light dimmed in the kitchen and the words blurred on their pages.

Hope, as an insurance officer, was well accustomed to lengthy bureaucratic language even if it was far from her usual milieu. She saw Lyall put down the school rules and decided to venture an analysis.

'Lyall, I think - I think he's going to be alright.'

Lyall took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. 'Yes. That was my impression, too. I think he's fine.'

There was a pleasant pause between them, as they both let go of the breath they'd been holding. Lyall quietly whistled the tune from 'Heigh Ho', and with that both of them burst out laughing.

'Those poor children,' Hope said, trying and failing to calm the huge grin on her face into an expression of sympathy. 'They must have been so worried.'

'If they'd just asked Professor Binns it would have been over in a moment. Unfortunately first years are usually scared of teachers, and Binns, as I recall, isn't the most observant. Which Remus and his friends have ruthlessly exploited.' Lyall's eyes widened, and he grew suddenly serious. 'Remus and his friends,' he repeated. 'Those are words I never thought I'd say.'

'He's a little rascal,' Hope said. A lump rose in her throat, and she had to smile even harder to repress it. 'Finally.'

Lyall grinned back at her. 'Are we going to write a response?'

'We don't need to, do we?'

'Please, love. I've waited seven years for this.'

_Dear Remus,_

_Your mother and I were not impressed to find out you got a detention. We are not angry, just disappointed. We will not be sending sweets this week. No ifs or buts - I'm your dad and I say so. I hope we will not hear of you getting involved in mischief again._

_Dad_

_P.S. We love you very much._


End file.
